Forever
by eli.lasagna
Summary: Everyone believed that Lenalee's life is something you can call beyond lucky. But now, there's only grief left to take care of her.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: *smiles sheepishly* I don't really know what to say… Just wanna tell you that this story is like a wine, yeah a wine. Because it was fermented/stored in my mind for a very long time though I don't know if it tastes good enough… The great grand writer's block was keeping me away to write this. But you know I was inspired to write this down after reading the Hatsune mix manga. Though I don't know why. :3

Another thing, I don't own the super duper ultra mega magnificent -man.

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><p>Prologue<p>

Forever…

…such a powerful and profound word…

…its true meaning is beyond infinity…

…immeasurable and endless…

Forever.

"Love is the beginning of forever."

-Anonymous

Lenalee Lee, 21 years old. A fresh college graduate and a very promising scientist. A woman of beauty and brains. They say she's almost perfect. She has the face that every girl would wish they had, the body that the boys would chase after for, and the knowledge that only a genius would had. Many girls envy her. For if you think carefully, the future for a girl like her was written already. Fame, Wealth, and Love is surely just waiting for her; lurking around and waiting to be noticed. A perfect life for a perfect girl. Isn't that great? Some will do anything just to achieve those things. But for her, they are already beyond her reach. And now it is only up to her if she will take them.

Unfortunately, she didn't. She missed the chance of having a dream like life. Because she's too weak, too weak and tired that she can't even raise her hands and reach for them. And she was devastated. Her life was messed up.

She flopped down on her bed wearily. Her appearance was like of a flower slowly wilting. Dark circles surrounded her eyes and that's because she's extremely sleep deprived. Her before clear and beautiful violet eyes were now awfully red and swollen because of crying. Grief and depression embraced her. Bad thing she let them do that to her. Courtesy of Komui, his brother, she was stuck in their house like a lone princess trapped in a castle.

The grip on her right hand slowly loosened to reveal a shining diamond ring. She clutched it again and placed her hand at where her heart is supposed to be. She closed her eyes and squeezed them, thinking a tear would come. But nothing came; even a drop. Maybe it's true that the eyes produce only a limited amount of tears, and she already used up all of she has.

She bolted up when a sudden crash of something like a chinaware breaking was heard from the kitchen downstairs. Thanks to it, she was back again to the real word from her self-made world of desolation. She rushed to the kitchen, leaving the ring on the bed. When she got there, she saw Walker v.8 sweeping the shattered pieces of the broken plate.

"What happened?" Lenalee asked while her forehead scrunched.

Walker v.8 turned to her.

"Oh, it's you doctor. I am certain that this is already the sixth time that I broke a plate. I am very sorry but I think incidents like this are just unavoidable for me. My body lacks sensory receptors to feel the things that I touch."

Walker v.8 is the latest robot Lenalee made. It was installed with an upgraded artificial intelligence that Lenalee devised herself. It takes an appearance of a man who was more or less than twenty one years of age. It looks like a real man who has a fair skin, white hair that goes past his nape, gray eyes and a red star was adorned above his left eye. And for some reason, she made its left arm color red. Lenalee really did a good job in making and designing it. Though, it took her eight tries to almost perfect it, thus, its name Walker v.8. She made its features very human-like; from the way it thinks and talks to the way how its skin was soft when touched. You wouldn't realize it's a robot unless you knew it from the start.

"Sensory receptors. Yeah, I believe you need them. Let's go to the lab."

Lenalee replied with a sigh and started walking to the lab which was basically the basement of their house. Walker v.8 just left what it is doing and followed Lenalee.

Beside the stairs, was a clothes rack and she grabbed a lab coat from it. She wore it then she entered the password for the basement door to open and they entered. Inside the laboratory, different machines and computers of many kinds were placed. She led Walker v.8 on a swivel chair and ordered it to sit. Lenalee turned on the supercomputer and flashing lights came on the monitors. She turned the rotating chair around so that Walker v.8 is facing opposite to her.

"Turn into sleep mode Walker v.8."

She ordered and the robot obediently followed by just closing its eyes. Then she placed a wire which connects to the supercomputer on both the robot's temple. Then she started downloading the sensory receptors to Walker v.8's system. After the successful download, she noticed a tab on the bottom of her screen and opened it. It was the self destruct program she made for Walker v.8 but she hesitated on adding it to its features from the start.

She looked at monitor. Written in bold white letters was 'Self-destruct Walker v.8'. She concentrated and thought hard whether she will click the download or the cancel button. After a few more minutes, she finally clicked the download button. Who knows, it might be useful someday. Destruction isn't always a bad thing.

This was 3 days before Lenalee Lee died and Walker v.8 was deactivated.

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><p>AN: Update might be up in a few days or so, depending on my mood :)


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorrrrrrrrrrrrrry! Please forgive me for not updating for ages! I didn't really intend to do that! It's just that my internet connection won't let me open my account! Im' very sorry! T.T**

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><p>Chapter 1: The Princess that was locked in the Tower<p>

September 18, 2011- 3 days before Lenalee Lee died and Walker v.8 was deactivated.

After the download, Lenalee pulled out the wires on Walker v.8's body.

"Wake up now Walker v.8. It's done."

Lenalee commanded and Walker v.8 opened its eyes promptly. Its action of waking up can be activated by voice recognition. It sat properly and tried to move its left hand by closing and opening it. Lenalee turned its seat again so she can face it properly.

"How was it? Is it working?"

Lenalee asked and to her surprise, Walker v.8 held her face.

"Your face is warm doctor. I don't know that humans were warm when touched. Is that why humans are warm-blooded?"

So it is working.

Lenalee didn't flinched away but she held back the robot's hand that was on her face. She looked at it directly with a wounded look against its artificial clear gray eyes.

"Humans were warm while they are still alive, but their bodies go cold, colder than yours, when they die."

She said softly yet every word was full of emotion. Unfortunately, a robot hasn't the ability to fathom such complexity of humans for they only understand what they see, hear, and touch. Never a law or theory was about feelings or emotions and that would only bring utter confusion for them. It just stared back at her, quite not fascinated.

"Thank you doctor. I don't know such information and now I can add that to my memory bank. But I sensed stress patterns while you were saying that. Is there any problem doctor?"

Walker v.8 is a smart robot. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it has the ability to understand how a human feels.

Lenalee put her hand down and the robot followed. Her face turned into a frown and she stood up.

"Stress is my latest stalker. Now get the wireless phone in the living room and call Lavi, Walker."

She replied coldly and walked away to the exit when the robot answered back and she halted from walking.

"Which Walker are you referring to, doctor?"

Okay. Did I tell you that she's in a bad mood? And that really annoyed her.

She turned to Walker v.8 and glared daggers at the poor thing.

"Who do you think I'm talking to Walker v.8? Is there any other person here aside from us? And what do you want me to do? To pick the other Walkers in the trash which is a total bunch of failures and replace you?"

She replied harshly emphasizing its name. That was rather ironic. Fortunately, a robot was too naïve to understand what temper is. She rolled her eyes and made her way to the exit while the robot just looked at her, dejected.

After Lenalee was gone, Walker v.8 went upstairs and complied with her instructions while she was on the kitchen cleaning the mess.

"Hello? Lavi's speaking."

"Good evening Lavi. This is Walker v.8."

"Oh, you're the robot that looks like Allen!"

Though it is on the telephone, Walker v.8 heard him smile. But, Allen? Nobody with the name Allen was registered in its database.

"Allen? Who is Allen?"

"Ah, never mind. By the way, why did you call me up?"

That was suspicious.

"Lenalee asked me to. She wants to talk to you."

"Is that so? Then let me talk to her."

Walker v.8 went to the kitchen and gave the phone to Lenalee.

"Hello? Lavi?"

Lavi was Lenalee's long time friend. They were classmates in high school and even after they graduated, they still hang out a lot. There was also one time when Lavi fell for Lenalee and he decided to confess. But when Lenalee's brother learned about Lavi's confession, Komui's rage was released and threatened him by his humongous destructive robots. And because of that, Lenalee was forced to reject him to Lavi's gloom. But still, after that, their friendship stayed the same.

"Hello Lena-chan! Why do you want to talk to me?"

"Um, can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course, yes! You don't even need to ask permission!"

He was too happy. She doesn't know if she will be annoyed or she will just ride with him.

"Can you come here in the house tomorrow?"

"Not tomorrow! I have a date!"

"Oh. What about on Tuesday?"

"Tuesday…okay! I'm free on Tuesday. Why all of a sudden?

"Lavi, please help me get out of here. Let's go out on Tuesday."

That wasn't too happy. The curve on his lips faded.

"Where do you want to go?"

"At the theme park? Cemetery? At your house? I don't know. Anywhere. I just want to get out of here."

Breathe a little. She's close to crying.

"Fine. I understand. I will go there on Tuesday. You really need to breathe some fresh air after all what happened."

"Thank you Lavi. I hope I am not bothering you."

"No you're not. And what are you talking about? I'm your friend. I will always do things for you."

It's really good to have a friend that you can always count on.

"Thanks."

"And cheer up okay? Look for the brighter side of life!"

"Okay. I'll try to."

Do it. Don't just try.

The front door suddenly clicked and unlocked. Komui is already here.

"Lavi, I need to end the call now. Brother is already here."

"Okay. Bye~!"

"Bye."

After the call, Lenalee quickly shoved the phone to Walker v.8 that was watching her the whole time she was talking to Lavi. Exactly when Walker v.8 received the phone, Komui appeared on his lab coat at the door of the kitchen with a big grin on his face. He works at the Black Order Corp. which holds a number of companies. For Komui's concern, he was on the Black Order Science Institute and works as one of the superiors there.

"Lenalee! My sweet little Lenalee! I'm home now!"

Komui hugged Lenalee while the other tries to squirm away to her annoyance and embarrassment.

"Yes. Yes. You're now home brother. Now will you please let go of me?"

Komui followed and backed a bit.

"How's your day Lenalee? Are you okay? Is something wrong?"

She couldn't stand this. As long as possible, she doesn't want any long conversations with her brother. She will just hate him more if she would. Until now, she doesn't understand why Komui needs to lock her away in their house. She thought that would be utterly crazy and irrational. Damn him and his sister complex. Damn him.

"I'm fine. I'll go in my room now. I want to be alone."

She looked away from him.

"Aww… but you always wanted to be alone. And how about dinner?"

"I'm not hungry. I'll just go down when I am."

She made her way out of the kitchen and went to her room.

"Walker v.8." Komui called, his usual jolly expression was replaced by a serious one.

"What is it Doctor Lee?"

"Please look after Lenalee. And make her happy. I can't do it, so make her happy for me will you?"

It's more of a plead than a request. But Walker v.8 took it as an order from its master.

"Yes, Doctor Lee. I will."

Replied Walker v.8 and he went out of the kitchen. Komui was left there with downcast eyes.

"I'm sorry Lenalee…"

As the darkness flooded her room, coldness surrounds as well. She lay on the bed in a fetal position, embracing her lone self. Though she grew up with a fear of the dark, she now learned how to accept and embrace it. Her solitary solitude. She felt the bed sheet being pulled and covered to her body. And she realized that it was Walker v.8.

"You can now turn into sleep mode Walker v.8."

She ordered lastly and closed her eyes, waiting for the thing called sleep to drift her away.

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><p><strong>AN: I will try my best to update as soon as possible! Sorry.**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2: A Brother's Wish

September 19, 2011- 2 days before Lenalee Lee died and Walker v.8 was deactivated.

No matter how hard she tries, she still couldn't sleep well. For every time she closes her eyes, a man resembling Walker v.8's appearance was appearing on her mind. He was full of gashes and wounds; his head was bleeding a lot. A faint yet painful smile can be traced on his lips, and words quietly came out.

"Do you believe in forever, Lenalee?"

She shot her eyes open for the nth time already that night. Lenalee doesn't really know if that was already a dream or just a flashback that her mind was making.

"Wake up, Walker v.8."

Lenalee whispered softly. She needs someone to talk to now. Because if not, she knows her sanity will be taken away because of the stupid rewinds of her mind.

Walker v.8 complied with her voice and sat properly on the chair it was sitting and sleeping a while ago.

"What is it, Lenalee?" replied the robot in the normal volume of its voice.

"What time is it?"

The robot looked at the clock on the bed side and read it.

"3:46 am"

Lenalee grunted. It's too early to get up from bed. She wished that time would pass fast albeit just for now.

"What do you think of me Walker v.8?"

Let the time pass.

"I think you are sad doctor."

She failed to refuse a smile. She thought that a robot talking about sadness and such was funny.

"Tell me, how do you define sadness?"

Testing your own work's ability? That would a be great thing to do when you want to kill time.

"Sadness is an emotion that humans feel when something disappointing or something that they do not want to happen occurred. What is that something to you doctor?"

Impressive. She was really impressed that she's now questioning herself if she really made it.

"Why would I tell you? That will only make me more distressed, right?"

"Oh, yes. I'm sorry doctor."

"No, it's okay."

Awkward silence followed then, until Lenalee broke it.

"What do you know about yourself Walker v.8?"

"I am a robot that you made and was designed for your own personal purpose."

4:32 am.

"Yes. Yes. What about your responsibilities or obligations?"

"It's my duty to comply with all of your orders and make you happy."

Lenalee chuckled at that.

"Make me happy? And what do you think will make me happy?"

"Um, I don't know yet doctor. Can you tell me?"

"No, I can't. You need to find that out by yourself."

"Oh, okay."

Walker v.8 replied wearily. They stayed like that, exchanging questions to each other as if they were both on an intense interview. Natter natter natter. Their small chit chat turned into a conversation until dawn came and the sun approached to wake up the sleeping world.

The robot was pretty a handy thing, she thought. At least, she is still able to keep herself together because of it. She can forget the loneliness, sadness, and hatred within herself even just for a meantime. But she's also aware that after this, she'll be back to her old self again- full of grief and anguish.

5:43 am.

After they ran out of topics to discuss and their conversation died down, Lenalee still laid down on her bed and she feel staying like this for the whole day. She ordered Walker v.8 to go downstairs and help his brother in preparing for his work.

A bothersome smell reached her room and her nose twitched. It smells like something burned and she already knew what was it. Probably, that was Komui who left the eggs in the heating pan for a long time. But how is that possible? He must have been gone to work by this time. She got to her feet and decided to see it herself. And she wasn't wrong. Komui stood panicking in front of the stove and he doesn't know what to do with the burned eggs.

"Brother? What are you doing here? Aren't you going to be late?" Lenalee asked while she stood at the doorway.

Komui cocked his head and turned to Lenalee.

"Oh, good morning Lenalee! I decided to have a day off today so I can look after you." he replied and started to place plates of pancakes and eggs on the dining table.

"To look after me?"

She's not a child. Not anymore.

"Yes. And because I'm already missing you so much! Oh, call Walker v.8 in the yard. The breakfast is ready."

Lenalee raised an eyebrow.

"What is Walker v.8 doing in the yard?

"I asked Walker v.8 to clean the yard, and it seems it also like to, so I let it."

Komui replied simply and Lenalee raised her voice.

"He is not our maid! He is my robot!"

She referred to it as 'he', does it make any difference?

"There's no need to shout Lenalee. It's true that I want to clean the yard and I also want to try new things."

Walker v.8 appeared from the hallway and the two looked at it. The white gloves on its hands were stained with murky soil. Lenalee sighed.

"I'll just clean it up. Follow me Walker v.8."

After a few minutes, Lenalee was back with Walker v.8 and they started eating breakfast. Of course, a robot isn't eating but since Walker v.8 was made, they became used in eating with it. There was an awkward silence between the two humans. There was only the sound of the cutlery scraping the plates heard. Even the usually cheerful Komui didn't talk. He felt guilty of something that he doesn't know.

"Can I also clean the stockroom, Doctor Lee?"

I think they should be ashamed of themselves. It's the robot who was able to speak first of them three. Maybe it realized that their silence is already unbearable.

"Oh sure, if that's what you want. But I'll go there with you. Some things there aren't for disposing yet."

"Okay." replied the robot.

When the awfully uncomfortable breakfast was finally done, Lenalee went upstairs to take a bath and change clothes while Komui led Walker v.8 to the stockroom. Komui turned the faint light on and revealed the content of the room. Piles of dusty large boxes were placed, one on top of another. He asked Walker v.8 to dust off first the contents of the boxes. Placed in one of the boxes were some clothes for men which Walker v.8 thought were small for Komui so it can't be his, stuffed toys and there was a picture that caught the robot's attention. It was a picture of Lenalee clinging into the arm of a man who looks like exactly Walker v.8. Big smiles were on their faces making them obviously very happy.

"Doctor Lee, who is this guy who was with Lenalee in this picture?" the robot asked and Komui stopped opening the boxes and turned to the robot.

He looked at the picture Walker v.8 was holding and his eyes widened but softened afterwards. He took a deep breath as if he was going to tell a long story.

"He was Allen. Allen Walker."

Walker v.8 suddenly remembered the Allen Lavi mentioned yesterday. So it was him.

Komui continued. "He was Lenalee's fiancé. And your appearance was inspired by him."

"Oh. If that's so, I should thank him then. Where is he now?"

"He… he's dead."

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><p>Two months ago…<p>

'How did it turn out to be like this?' Lenalee thought. Tonight has been the night she was waiting for. Allen proposed to her after their three years as boyfriend and girlfriend. They should be celebrating now and having the time of their lives. Instead they were going for their lives now.

They were both on Allen's car and she was on the front seat with him. Her chest was thumping hard and the city lights passing fast her sight are making her dizzy. Allen drove fast, left and right, avoiding the traffic. He doesn't even mind his speed and the speed limit.

Allen Walker was a noted detective at the Black Order Detective Agency and was well known for the numerous and hard to fathom cases that he had solved. A few days ago, he has been informed that the Noah's Ark, a gang that he had captured, was been able to escape the prison. But he didn't mind it very well. He thought that the police will be able to catch them for the second time. And he was wrong. Now they were there behind them, chasing and firing gunshots. He suspected that they were back for revenge.

The pursuit continued. Wheels to wheels. Allen tried to avoid every gunshot as well as the cars blocking the way. He drew his hands tighter to the steering wheel while glancing at the side mirror time to time to look at their pursuers. They're persistent, he thought. Lenalee, on the other hand, grew anxious and afraid. She chanted silent prayers to herself. She held the man's arm tight and he looked at her. Then he saw the fear in her eyes.

Another car suddenly crossed the road and Allen was able to turn to the left swiftly. But he wasn't able to trigger the break quickly. And the car crashed on a light post.

Allen died.

Lenalee survived.

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><p>The information entered Walker v.8's system and it studied it critically. Komui looks sad like he was regretting something while telling what happened.<p>

Then Walker v.8 remembered something.

"_Sadness is an emotion that humans feel when something disappointing or something that they do not want to happen occurred. What is that something to you doctor?"_

Walker v.8 now knew that that something was in fact a someone.

"That is the reason why I'm keeping her here in the house. I want to protect her. When I knew that she was on that accident, I became really scared. I don't want that to happen again." Komui explained. He was looking at the floor while the robot looks at him. Walker v.8 looks so lenient as if it understands what Komui exactly feels.

"But Lenalee doesn't like it. She doesn't want to be trapped here in the house." Walker v.8 replied softly, trying to empathize with him.

He then looked at the robot and smiled wryly.

"I know. She maybe now hated me for all I am but I don't care. I don't care if she curses me or if she wishes for me to go to hell. I just want her to be safe. I just wanted to protect her."

"Though you said you wanted her to be happy, what about that?"

"Of course, I wanted her to be happy. And you already knew that I can't do that. Because of what I'm doing, she now loathes me and I can't make her happy if she's like that towards me. That's why I asked you to do that for me."

"…"

Unbeknownst to them, Lenalee was there standing by the closed door and she heard their whole conversation. After hearing that incident again, that night flashed back in her mind and reminded her about everything. A stray tear dropped from her eyes and she fled away.


End file.
